IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v5y2021i6d10.1038_s41562-021-01112-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Anti-intellectualism and the mass public’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Merkley

    (University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

  • Peter John Loewen

    (University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

Abstract

Anti-intellectualism (the generalized distrust of experts and intellectuals) is an important concept in explaining the public’s engagement with advice from scientists and experts. We ask whether it has shaped the mass public’s response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We provide evidence of a consistent connection between anti-intellectualism and COVID-19 risk perceptions, social distancing, mask usage, misperceptions and information acquisition using a representative survey of 27,615 Canadians conducted from March to July 2020. We exploit a panel component of our design (N = 4,910) to strongly link anti-intellectualism and within-respondent change in mask usage. Finally, we provide experimental evidence of anti-intellectualism’s importance in information search behaviour with two conjoint studies (N ~ 2,500) that show that preferences for COVID-19 news and COVID-19 information from experts dissipate among respondents with higher levels of anti-intellectual sentiment. Anti-intellectualism poses a fundamental challenge in maintaining and increasing public compliance with expert-guided COVID-19 health directives.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Merkley & Peter John Loewen, 2021. "Anti-intellectualism and the mass public’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 706-715, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1038_s41562-021-01112-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01112-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01112-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-021-01112-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. Lupia,Arthur & McCubbins,Mathew D., 1998. "The Democratic Dilemma," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521584487, Enero-Abr.
    3. Judit Bar-Ilan & Ana Echermane, 2005. "The anthrax scare and the Web: A content analysis of Web pages linking to resources on anthrax," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 63(3), pages 443-462, June.
    4. Dan M. Kahan & Hank Jenkins-Smith & Donald Braman, 2011. "Cultural cognition of scientific consensus," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 147-174, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Chuanbiao & Liu, Ruiying & Wang, Yan, 2023. "The spread dynamics model of the interaction between rumors and derivative rumors in emergencies under the control strategy," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P2).
    2. Tan, Micah & Straughan, Paulin Tay & Cheong, Grace, 2022. "Information trust and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amongst middle-aged and older adults in Singapore: A latent class analysis Approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    3. Simon Briole & Marc Gurgand & Eric Maurin & Sandra McNally & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela & Daniel Santin, 2022. "The making of civic virtues: a school-based experiment in three countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp1830, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Adam Brzezinski & Valentin Kecht & David Dijcke & Austin L. Wright, 2021. "Science skepticism reduced compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place policies in the United States," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 1519-1527, November.
    5. Antoci, Angelo & Sabatini, Fabio & Sacco, Pier Luigi & Sodini, Mauro, 2022. "Experts vs. policymakers in the COVID-19 policy response," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 22-39.
    6. Albornoz, Facundo & Bottan, Nicolas & Cruces, Guillermo & Hoffmann, Bridget & Lombardi, María, 2024. "Backlash against expert recommendations: Reactions to COVID-19 advice in Latin America," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    7. Niels G. Mede, 2022. "Legacy media as inhibitors and drivers of public reservations against science: global survey evidence on the link between media use and anti-science attitudes," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Motta, Matt & Benegal, Salil D, 2022. "How Pandemic-Related Changes in Global Attitudes Toward the Scientific Community Shape “Post-Pandemic” Environmental Opinion," SocArXiv v9egn, Center for Open Science.
    9. Schenkel, Marina, 2024. "Health emergencies, science contrarianism and populism: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    10. Motta, Matt & Callaghan, Timothy & Trujillo, Kristin Lunz & Lockman, Alee, 2022. "Erroneous Consonance. How Inaccurate Beliefs about Physician Opinion Influence COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy," SocArXiv 8hnxd, Center for Open Science.
    11. Bruno Arpino & Valeria Bordone & Giorgio Di Gessa, 2022. "Close kin influence COVID-19 precautionary behaviors and vaccine acceptance of older individuals," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2022_02, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    12. Choi, Yongjin & Fox, Ashley M., 2022. "Mistrust in public health institutions is a stronger predictor of vaccine hesitancy and uptake than Trust in Trump," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    13. repec:osf:socarx:pxrn3_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Olya, Hossein & Shah, Zahra & Li, Huaiyu, 2024. "Virtual influencers and pro-environmental causes: The roles of message warmth and trust in experts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    15. Li, Yao-Tai & Chen, Man-Lin & Lee, Hsuan-Wei, 2024. "Health communication on social media at the early stage of the pandemic: Examining health professionals’ COVID-19 related tweets," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    16. Motta, Matt & Callaghan, Timothy & Trujillo, Kristin Lunz, 2022. "“The CDC Won’t Let Me Be.” The Opinion Dynamics of Support for CDC Regulatory Authority," SocArXiv pxrn3, Center for Open Science.
    17. Haibo Qin & Zhongxuan Xie & Huping Shang & Yong Sun & Xiaohui Yang & Mengming Li, 2024. "The mass public’s science literacy and co-production during the COVID-19 pandemic: empirical evidence from 140 cities in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    18. Avinash Collis & Kiran Garimella & Alex Moehring & M. Amin Rahimian & Stella Babalola & Nina H. Gobat & Dominick Shattuck & Jeni Stolow & Sinan Aral & Dean Eckles, 2022. "Global survey on COVID-19 beliefs, behaviours and norms," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1310-1317, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bazzi, Samuel & Fiszbein, Martin & Gebresilasse, Mesay, 2021. "“Rugged individualism” and collective (in)action during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    2. Salil D. Benegal & Lyle A. Scruggs, 2018. "Correcting misinformation about climate change: the impact of partisanship in an experimental setting," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 61-80, May.
    3. Anders Gustafsson, 2019. "Busy doing nothing: why politicians implement inefficient policies," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 282-299, September.
    4. Lou, Jiehong & Shen, Xingchi & Niemeier, Deb, 2020. "Are stay-at-home orders more difficult to follow for low-income groups?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. David Altman, 2002. "Prospects for E-Government in Latin America: Satisfaction With Democracy, Social Accountability, and Direct Democracy," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 5-20, December.
    6. Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & Dirk Krueger & André Kurmann & Etienne Lalé & Alexander Ludwig & Irina Popova, 2023. "The Fiscal and Welfare Effects of Policy Responses to the Covid-19 School Closures," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 35-98, March.
    7. Alexander Dietrich & Edward S. Knotek & Keith Kuester & Gernot J. Müller & Kristian Ove R. Myrseth & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2020. "Consumers and COVID-19: A Real-Time Survey," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, vol. 2020(08), pages 1-6, April.
    8. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
    9. Anindya Ghose & Beibei Li & Meghanath Macha & Chenshuo Sun & Natasha Ying Zhang Foutz, 2020. "Trading Privacy for the Greater Social Good: How Did America React During COVID-19?," Papers 2006.05859, arXiv.org.
    10. Lu, Xi & Mo, Hongming & Deng, Yong, 2015. "An evidential opinion dynamics model based on heterogeneous social influential power," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 98-107.
    11. Donald Wittman, 2008. "Targeted political advertising and strategic behavior by uninformed voters," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 87-100, January.
    12. Mehmet Ronael & Tüzin Baycan, 2022. "Place-based factors affecting COVID-19 incidences in Turkey," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 1053-1086, October.
    13. John Patty & Roberto Weber, 2007. "Letting the good times roll: A theory of voter inference and experimental evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 293-310, March.
    14. Lucia Freira & Marco Sartorio & Cynthia Boruchowicz & Florencia Lopez Boo & Joaquin Navajas, 2021. "The interplay between partisanship, forecasted COVID-19 deaths, and support for preventive policies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. James Tilley & Christopher Wlezien, 2008. "Does Political Information Matter? An Experimental Test Relating to Party Positions on Europe," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(1), pages 192-214, March.
    16. Yunsen Wang & Tiffany Chiu & Alexander Kogan, 2025. "The effects of COVID-19 pandemic and auditor-client geographic proximity on auditors' going concern opinions," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(2), pages 341-361, June.
    17. Graziella Bonanno & Marino De Luca, 2025. "Unravelling Myths: A Difference-In-Differences Analysis of Post-Vaccination Mortality in Italy During COVID-19," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 1137-1177, February.
    18. Leo H. Kahane, 2021. "Politicizing the Mask: Political, Economic and Demographic Factors Affecting Mask Wearing Behavior in the USA," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 163-183, April.
    19. Bradley J. Larsen & Timothy J. Ryan & Steven Greene & Marc J. Hetherington & Rahsaan Maxwell & Steven Tadelis, 2022. "Using Donald Trump's COVID-19 Vaccine Endorsement to Give Public Health a Shot in the Arm: A Large-Scale Ad Experiment," Papers 2203.02625, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2022.
    20. Mike Thelwall, 2017. "Judit Bar-Ilan: information scientist, computer scientist, scientometrician," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(3), pages 1235-1244, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:5:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1038_s41562-021-01112-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.